


Last Journy of the Knight of Sands

by Dmatix



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-02-01
Updated: 2012-02-01
Packaged: 2017-10-30 11:50:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/331442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dmatix/pseuds/Dmatix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Edris Hull, the ageing Knight of Sands, is the last surviving member of his team. On his way to face an enemy he cannot possibly defeat, he leaves his journal, and with it his thoughts about his session, his team and the Game itself, hoping someone might succeed where he is sure to fail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Last Journey of the Knight of Sands

This is the last will and testament of Edris Hull, Shield Sage of the third circle, protector of Lyr, sky breaker and survivor of the three battles. Knight of Sands. 

I write this on my way to take on an enemy I can’t possibly defeat, trying to save someone most likely long gone, hoping against all hope to actually make a difference in the end. In short, I’m trying to extinguish a sun by spitting into it. 

I’m not doing this simply to quiet my conscience. Hopefully whoever reads this will gain something from my experiences, if only in learning how not to fail where I did.  
I am the last of my team. From ten, one reminds. I can’t help but wonder what I did to deserve this. Why am I alive now when men and women far better than me rot? I was never the strongest, the smartest, the kindest or most ambitious. Yet I still live, and all that’s left of them are mementos and fading memories. Eight mementos for nine past companions. The ninth I throw away. He doesn’t deserve to be with them, not even in memory.

But, as usual, I’m getting ahead of myself. If you are reading this, this mean you reached the Distant Shore. If you managed that, you must be fairly powerful. Traveling beyond the Furthest Ring is not a undertaking taken lightly or accomplished easily. Hell, I only managed because I had outside help. My point is, this journal is for you. If I fail here, and I most likely will, my only hope is that someone more powerful than I will someday come to finish the job. If you are that someone, I urge you to read this carefully. Knowledge is power, and you will need every drop you can get against an adversary like the Dey. 

As with all things, better to start from the beginning, and don’t believe any Heroes of Time that tell you different… 

 

Chapter one- The Skybreakers  
Before I begin getting into the details of my current predicament, it’s important to understand just how I got here. To understand that, I’ll need to go over the details of my session. It was an unusual one, to say the least.

From all the sessions I’ve seen, and I saw quite a few, my session was the only one in which the players had preexisting knowledge of the prize. Not just the prize though, most of the game mechanics. And not just the players, our entire society was aware of the exact time the game would start over a century before it did.  
So when the meteors bearing me and my teammates fell, our guardians were prepared. An unforeseen delay, however, meant that we didn’t all fall a few months from each other. From the time the first of us fell, to the time the last did, four years passed. The large age gap in our group did nothing to ease the already stressed atmosphere between us, the other causes of which I’ll get to later.

We were called the Skybreakers, and our coming was treated with both elation and dread. The White Vizier, who came to Lyr a century and a half before the Fall, was the one to prepare the ground for our arrival. He appeared before the High Judge of Lyr in a flash of blinding green energy, claiming to bear tidings of a coming apocalypse. Despite his impressive entrance, the High Judge, paranoid from years of assassination attempts, immediately called for the guards. As they attempted to grab the Vizier and lead him away, he taped his whitewood cane on the floor of the audience chamber. With a second flash, the guards disappeared, and were never heard from again. After that, the High Judge became far more agreeable.

The Vizier spoke of a great calamity set to happen in a hundred and fifty years. He showed the Judge and the Council of Ten dire visions of the event, of Lyr bombarded with great orbs of fire. He showed them the aftermath of this attack, the empty sand plains left where our great city once stood.  
The Council was terrified. They pleaded, begged him to deliver them from their doom. He looked at them with those empty white eyes I’ve grown to despise, and said that sadly, there was nothing he could do to stop the Fall. But all was not lost, he calmed the panicked members of the Council, for before Fall shatters the earth, the children who could stop it will shatter the sky. Each will arrive some thirteen years before the Fall riding one of its instruments. These children, if each trained by member of the Council in his or her field, would save Lyr from the Fall, and make it greater than ever before. They would make an entire universe shaped in Lyr’s image. 

He was lying of course. Nothing could save Lyr, or any of the other worlds the game took place on, and he knew this perfectly well. But, the Council was convinced. Since they knew they would not live to see the Fall and to train the Skybreakers themselves, they left instructions to their guilds to listen to the Vizier’s every word and to begin to prepare for the arrival. Thus Lyr fell under the Vizier’s control, and so it remained until the day Adrian’s meteor crashed into the High Judge’s palace.


	2. Chapter 2: Witch and Page

Chapter Two: Witch and Page

Since the day I landed on Lyr a little less than a year after Adrian, I’ve been training under the Shield Sages, the city’s guild of protectors. From them I learned the arts of defense, both martial and magical. My days consisted of training and little else, beside bi-weekly meetings with the other future players, which the Vizier deemed necessary for building “Team Spirit”, as he often called it. 

I recall one particular meeting, The last one before the game began. The meetings took place in a different guild every week. That last meeting was in the Hall of Artificers, home to the Metal Makers and Sagacious Scholars. I made it a habit to arrive early-the Vizier didn’t take kindly to tardiness. The Hall was a plain round stone building, as utilitarian as the guilds inhabiting it. Halus stood at the entrance, waiting for me.

Halus Nost, Page of Space, was raised by the Metal Makers, responsible of manufacturing the weapons and armor for the more warlike guilds of Lyr, as well as other gadgetry. He and his sister Teni fell on the same day, about six months after me. Even though I was older, he towered over me as he approached me with the same easy smile he always wore. Putting a big, muscular hand on my shoulder, he started:  
“Ah, Edris! How auspicious it is to meet you here! What brings you our humble abode?”  
“Cut it out Hal. I get enough fruity talk from your sister, and you know damn well why I’m here.”  
Hal grinned. “You are such a spoilsport, Ed, I swear.”  
“Anyone else here yet?”  
“Nah, just Teni and me. She’s busy working on some project of hers; she’ll be here any second”  
This gave me pause. Nothing good ever came from Teni’s “projects”.   
“Let’s get inside,” Halus said, rubbing his hands. “I’m freezing out here”   
We made our way to the meeting room. Inside, Teni was waiting, busy fiddling with one of her infernal contraptions.

Teni Nost, Witch of Mind, was Halus’ antithesis. Short, dark and thin where he was tall, fair and broad-shouldered. She was raised by the Sagacious Scholars, the city’s leading scientist and academics. They weren’t truly brother and sister of course, but due to the fact they fell on the same day and that the heads of their guilds were married, they were raised as such.   
“Salutations Edris. How pleasant it is to have you with us again.” She said, hammering on the machine with a large wrench. The thing began to pulse with bright colors.   
“Um, is that supposed to glow like that?”   
“I should not think so; it is only a debris removal module”   
“She means a vacuum cleaner.” Halus supplied.   
“Thank you Hal, I get it.”   
“Do not let the glowing disquiet you, it is a perfectly within the acceptable pera-“  
The device then proceeded to explode, showering the room with dust. Teni must have forgotten to empty it.   
“Well this is just great Teni” Halus sighed. “Now who is going to clean this mess up? The Vizier will be livid!”  
“I would be happy to do it, but it seemed I have misplaced my debris removal module.”

And so we went on arguing and bickering, falling into our old comfortable routine. Even though we only saw each other twice a week, we grew to know each other well over the years. As I sit here on an empty ship on its way to everywhere and nowhere, remembering that last meeting- Halus’ cheerful and loud, Teni quiet and serious, myself abrasive and confident- the weight of these lost times on my shoulders seems all the more heavy. 

And so we went on arguing and bickering, falling into our old comfortable routine. Even though we only saw each other twice a week, we grew to know each other well over the years. As I sit here on an empty ship on its way to everywhere and nowhere, remembering that last meeting- Halus’ cheerful and loud, Teni quiet and serious, myself abrasive and confident- the weight of lost times and lost friends on my shoulders seems all the more heavy.


	3. Chapter 3: Preparations

Chapter Three- Preparations

Halus was bragging about some new weapon he forged as footsteps were heard from down the hall. As we turned to look Adrian walked in, shaking snow from his gray coat. He gave us a slight nod of acknowledgment and excused himself, proceeding to the Hall’s kitchen to try and find something warm to eat. Teni watched him go, a wistful look in her usually somber eyes. 

Adrian Veris, Heir of Hope, was raised by the Bright Blades, the city’s finest warriors and generals. A tall, stern young man, none of us took his responsibilities more seriously than him. His dedication at working with his wind-blades made him a terrifying fighter before we even entered the game. Almost seventeen years old, he was the oldest I’ve ever seen a player enter. 

He soon returned with a steaming bowl of broth and sat with us.  
“Halus, Edris, I hope your training is going well,” Adrian said, formal as ever. We nodded. “Teni, I trust you are well.”  
Teni mumbled something unintelligible, nervously twisting a broken piece of vacuum cleaner in her hands. Halus and I exchanged a look. You didn’t need to be a Sagacious Scholar to figure the cause of her embarrassment. Adrian was completely oblivious, as usual. He never seemed to pay much attention to anything but the preparations for the game, and the closer to the beginning we got, the less consideration he gave for anything else.  
“Did Zand arrive already?” Adrian asked, sipping his broth “I need to have a word with him.”  
“Sunshine isn’t here yet,” Halus replied “Maybe we got lucky and he dropped a tower on himself.”   
Halus didn’t care much for Zand. Quite frankly, neither did I.   
Adrian frowned, but said nothing. He knew better than to get between an irresistible force and an immovable object. I tried to change the subject before things any more awkward.   
“So Adrian, up for some sparring until the others get here?” I knew Adrian could never refuse a chance to test himself.  
He finished his broth and stood up. “Sure, I’ve got a new technique I want to try”.  
So did I, but he didn’t need to know that. Adrian was always too honest for his own good.   
We went out to the courtyard. Curious, Halus and Teni followed. Snow fell around us as we took our positions, covering Lyr in a soft, white blanket. The last snow it would ever see. 

As a Shield Sage, my skills are almost completely defensive in nature. I didn’t stand a chance in a 1v1 fight against a well-rounded fighter, not to mention a Bright Blade like Adrian. So we fought under our usual conditions. If I could block his attack for three minutes, I win. He lands a hit, I lose. 

“Are you ready?” Adrian asked, falling into his relaxed Bright Blade fighting stance. He held no weapon in his hands.  
Putting on my shield gauntlets, I replied: “Let’s see what you got, Shiny”  
He attacked, or rather, his blades did. While Adrian reminded standing where he was, four semi-transparent blades of wind flew in my direction, lightning fast. I raised my hands, summoning my shields. Three of the four blades slammed against the white energy half-spheres covering my hands, but the fourth changed direction, attempting to strike at my feet. I leaped to the side, the blade missing my right foot by an inch. Adrian didn’t let up. The blades kept coming, striking my shields again and again, and draining my energy fast. Not only was Adrian fast, each blade struck like a sledgehammer. Shield Sage barriers were supposed to be able to withstand hours of punishment on the battlefield, and not two minutes after his first attack, I was already nearly spent. It was time to try my new technique. Barely dodging another attack, I slammed my shield gauntlets together. Focusing every last bit of energy I had, I created a full barrier sphere, covering my entire body. All four blades slammed against the front of my sphere, and I had to concentrate most of my power on the front to keep them at bay. Time was almost up.   
“Looks like I finally got you!” I shouted, excited. I never managed to beat him before.   
“Not quite.” He said quietly. As he did, I saw something flashing in the corner of my eye.  
A fifth blade. While I focused on holding the four blades hitting the front of my shield, the fifth snuck behind, striking my underpowered back and easily piercing the barrier. The blade smacked my between the shoulder blades. I dropped face first to the snow.  
The bastard. I never saw him use more than four before. Groaning, I rose to my knees. 

And met the pale face of the Thief of Rage staring me dead in the eye.


	4. Chapter 4: Rage

Chapter 4: Rage

I stumbled, falling back onto the snow. Colm just kept on staring at me with these dead eyes of his. 

Colm Tzel, Thief of Rage, was raised by the Silent Shades, the most respectable butch of assassins and cutthroats in Lyr, though by no means the only one. The second youngest of us, Colm was just a little over thirteen years old. Small and ratty, Colm had a few nasty habits: he enjoyed stalking around the city in the dead hours of the night, or appearing right behind you when you least expected it. What he liked most though, was just to stand there while you were doing something, and watch. I hated it when he just stood there, and watched. He almost never said anything, and when he did it was mostly just bizarre rhymes and obscure little poems. 

Adrian rushed to help me up and gave Colm a stern look of reproach. Colm just shrugged and wondered away, fading into the shadows of a nearby storage shed.  
“Are you alright Edris? I dulled the blades but I know they hit pretty hard.”  
“I’m just fine, don’t you worry. Or I would be if that damn kid would stop doing that.”  
Adrian looked to the shed. “I worry about him, you know,” he said. “This sort of behavior could put him, and the entire team, in danger once we enter the game.”  
I studied Adrian’s face carefully. He wasn’t just worried Colm would put us in danger. He genuinely cared about the boy, and seeing him behaving this way pained him.  
“Well, it’s a good thing you’re his partner then,” I said, brushing snow off my pants. “This way, you can keep an eye on him.”  
Adrian nodded, though he didn’t seem much relived. Couldn’t blame him. I wouldn’t have liked being partnered with Colm any better. Fortunately for me, I fared better when it came to partners. 

Halus approached, glancing towards the shed Colm disappeared behind.  
“If you two are done bashing each other in the freezing cold, we should get inside. Yun and Sunshine just got here, and the others should be here soon.”  
“What about Colm?” I asked as we headed back inside.  
“I wouldn’t worry about him” Halus said, closing the door behind us, “He always finds his way back”.  
“And if he doesn’t, no great lost” a voice from the conference room said. Zand’s voice. He appeared in its entry, leaning against the doorframe.  
Zand Koder, Mage of Void, was raised by the Flame Followers, the enforcers of the Vizier’s law. Before his coming, they were just a minor religious group, but by following him they rose to prominence. Zand was the third to fall, and thus a few months older than me. Wearing his uniform, Zand made for quite a striking figure. Tall and handsome as he was, he appeared to be the very model of chivalry. Too bad his personality didn’t fit his appearance.  
“Zand, I would like a word with you.” Adrian said. I winched. That wasn’t a question.  
“What’s this about, Veris? I don’t have the patience for idle chitchat”  
“You know full well what this is about, and unless you want to discuss it in front of everyone, you’ll come with me.”  
Zand gave Adrian a dark look, but complied. They left, and Halus and I entered the room, where Teni already sat with Yun.  
Yun Ani, Rogue of Life, was raised by the Healing Hands, who served as the city’s doctors, medics and morticians. The youngest of us, Yun was only about twelve years old, a tiny little thing. Yun was the only one Zand truly trusted and respected, and though I never understood why, she respected him too.  
“I see Sunshine is as personable as usual” Halus said as we were sitting down.  
“You know he hates it when you call him that.” Yun said, obviously uncomfortable with Zand’s display of brashness.  
“I know, that’s why I do.”  
“He really is a nice guy, you know. You guys never give him a chance “  
“Zand has received many opportunities to bond with us in the past, and he has intentionally squandered them.” Teni said.  
Yun opened her mouth to replay, when a powerful voice spoke, coming from no apparent source. “Skybreakers, you are to report to the main hall. The gathering shall commence shortly”.

The White Vizier has arrived.


	5. Chapter 5: Promises

Chapter Five: Promises   
The four of us quickly made our way into the main hall. When the White Vizier called, you answered if you knew what was good for you. As before any meeting with the Vizier, I was growing anxious. You never knew what to expect with the Vizier; in one meeting he might be courteous and pleasant, and in the next short tempered and vicious. If there was a pattern to his mood swings, I never figured it out. 

As we entered the hall I scanned the other seats in the room. The other three girls were already there, talking quietly. The Vizier was nowhere in sight. Elin saw me enter, and gave me a little smile of acknowledgement.  
Elin Fenn, Seer of Stars, was raised by the Sky Searchers, Lyr’s guild of philosophers and storytellers. Though their responsibilities might seem insignificant compared to those of the other guilds, their service as the guardians of Lyr’s history and tradition was the glue that held the divided city together. Elin was every bit the Sky Searcher: Thoughtful, inquisitive and eager to learn. She was the fifth to fall, only a month younger than me. She was also my partner, and possibly the dearest person to me in the world. She…  
But enough about talk Elin. Makes this old man’s heart ache. 

The four of us sat next to the girls. A moment later, Adrian and Zand walked in. Zand seemed furious about something, while Adrian was his usual calm self. They sat as far away apart as possible. Colm was nowhere in sight. 

And so the nine of us waited. While the Vizier couldn’t stand waiting, he had no qualms about letting others do the same. I tried to catch a word with Elin, but Shanna and Kyn kept her occupied. Halus and Teni were arguing in a hushed tone about something, and Yun went to sit next to Zand, who was in no mood to talk. Adrian seemed lost in thought, as he often was, and I knew it was unwise to disturb him. There was no one to talk to, nothing to do.   
After what seemed like forever, he finally arrived, accompanied as usual with a bright flash of green lightning. 

The White Vizier was an impressive figure, dressed as he was all in white but for a single green vertical stripe in the middle of his flowing robes. He had the appearance of an old man, but stood tall and unbent. Like his robes, his hair, skin, even his lips and eyes, were completely marble-white. In his hand was his long whitewood cane, topped with a green orb. While his appearance was unusual, that wasn’t what made him seem so alien-He never ate, never slept, never breathed, never blinked. And he saw everything. I learned that the hard way. 

“Skybreakers,” the Vizier began, “As you are surely aware, the time of your entrance is almost here. In a week’s time, the first of the meteors will start to fall. When they do, you will assemble on Watcher’s Hill. There, you will prototype your kernels with the items I shall provide. Your sprits will remind in Lyr, to help defend it while you work to defeat the Black King. Once the sprites are prepared, our technicians will make your entry items. You will enter two at a time through your first gates. There will be five planets orbiting Skaia, one for every pair. Once on your planet, you will find your second gate and make your way to it. I shall serve as your server, and construct whatever is necessary for you to advance. Further information will be provided when needed. Understood?”

We all nodded. We know all this. 

“Remember that if you are not fast enough, Lyr will be eradicated. The guilds and sprits can only stop the meteors for so long. The only way to save your home is to finish the game. Understood?”

Nods all around.

“I know you will not disappoint me.”

And just like that, he was gone.   
Bastard always knew how to make an exit.


End file.
